Punjab releases Rs 100 crore arrears of sugarcane farmers
Darpan News Desk IANS, 12 Aug, 2022 04:00 PM
Chandigarh, Aug 12 (IANS) Fulfilling a promise, the Punjab government on Friday said it has released Rs 100 crore for pending payments of sugarcane growers.
The amount was deposited in the accounts of the farmers.
An official statement quoting Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said Rs 295.60 crore was the pending arrears of sugarcane farmers which had to be paid by the government and cooperative sugar mills in the state.
He said out of this Rs 100 crore was paid by the government on July 29. Mann said the remaining arrears were Rs 195.60 crores and he had promised the farmers that out of this, Rs 100 crore will be paid by August 15 and the remaining Rs 95.60 crore will be cleared by September 7.
Mann said the government released Rs 100 crore as payment to the farmers on Thursday.
The Chief Minister said the government is fully sensitive towards checking cross-border infiltration in Punjab. He said Punjab Police is constantly in touch with the Border Security Force (BSF) and other agencies for this purpose.
While briefing the officers, the DGP said the topmost priority of the government, as directed by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, is to further strengthen the fight against drugs to make Punjab a drug-free state, besides eliminating the gangster culture, maintaining law and order, and detection of crime.
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur announced Rs 5 lakh to the next of the kin of the deceased, whereas Rs 15,000 as immediate relief for the injured. He said free treatment would be provided to the injured.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday carried out his first Cabinet expansion by inducting five legislators, including second-time MLA Aman Arora, into his council of ministers. The expansion came in less than four months of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) sweeping to victory in the Assembly elections by winning 92 seats of the 117 seats.
The police have so far managed to nab four of the accused, including one woman, who have been identified as Gurjant Singh (31), Navjot Singh (30), Satpal Singh (28) and Gurpreet Kaur (30).
The ambidextrous sharpshooter, identified as Ankit alias Chhota, a resident of Sonipat in Haryana, was most desperate to commit the crime."He fired simultaneously from two pistols in his two hands," H.G.S. Dhaliwal, Special Commissioner (Special Cell), said during a media briefing.
